Art Nouveau, Art of Darkness: African Lineages of Belgian Modernism, Part I Author(s): Debora L. Silverman Source: West 86th, Vol. 18, No. 2 (Fall-Winter 2011), pp. 139-181 Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Bard Graduate Center Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/662515 . Accessed: 12/12/2014 08:47 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. The University of Chicago Press and Bard Graduate Center are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to West 86th. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 216.165.95.72 on Fri, 12 Dec 2014 08:47:57 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Art Nouveau, Art of Darkness: African Lineages of Belgian Modernism, Part I Debora L. Silverman University of California, Los Angeles This article is the first of a two-part study. Part I identifies Belgian art nouveau as a specifically Congo style and as “imperial modernism,” created from Congo raw materials and inspired by Congo motifs—the lash, the vine, and the elephantine. Focusing closely on works by Victor Horta, Henry van de Velde, and Philippe Wolfers, Part I suggests how stylistic forms of modernism expressed a displaced encounter with a distant but encroaching imperial violence—the return of the repressor in visual form.